What are the criteria for an event to be given the status of a world masters qualifier? I know that the US national 501 Champion Men/Women/Youth are invited (and also are sponsored by the ADO to cover travel expenses). I have noticed that many different events in the UK give the winners an invite. Are there other WDF events in the US that also qualify the winner for an invite if the said winner could cover there own travel expenses?_________________We are the dance band on the Titanic............

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I believe that it is basically down to the BDO. In the old days, we only had a couple of ranked events here, and it started changing when we lost the old NAODT. The ADO protested that we had lost the possibility of World Masters qualifiers as a result, so the BDO gave us spots for our National Championships.

As the BDO started to expand over here - probably as a result of the PDC's growth worldwide - it was decided to allow us six BDO/WDF ranked events. Not only has that given us more ranking points, actually giving us a chance to qualify for the BDO World Championship on points (something we have never been able to do before), each of those six events are qualifying events for the World Masters.

The ADO Playoff system provides a "team" of qualifiers for the World Masters, expenses paid, which is the case for most nations. In addition, the winners of the two National Championships, along with the winners of the 501 Singles from each of the six events, win a spot at the Masters. With these, the champions have to pay their own way to the Masters. Again, that is the case with the winners of the Dutch Open, Japan Open, Australian Grand Masters etc.

We've only had these six events for the last two years, and obviously, it is better to rank the largest tournaments we have, which in most cases, are home to our Nationals. Therefore, Las Vegas and Stamford are obvious candidates, although we don't know what will be happening with Vegas now. We also have Houston, Charlotte, and Denver, as they are regular hosts of National finals. The only one that isn't is Virginia Beach, and as it is the largest established event in the US, it certainly makes sense for the BDO to include that on the list.

Steve_________________If you're normal, I intend to be a freak for the rest of my life...